I sit here this morning with a very heavy heart to write these words. As some of you know, my father, Harlan Freeman, has been struggling with lung cancer and emphysema. Last Saturday morning those two won the battle and my father passed away in his home. My mother and I were both there with him which I thank God for.

My dad was a great man. A great son, father, grandfather and great grandfather.  He was a master carpenter and a wood carver that never felt that his work was not quite as good as we all know it was. I have made a few items similar to his. His would be something you would see for sale in a fine furniture store while mine would be found in a garage sale. He always worked very hard long hours to make sure his family was taken care of. He worked with us kids as we were growing up teaching us how to train and ride horses among so many other things.

As I find the strength in the coming days and weeks, I will write more about him. Many of you know him and know what a good caring man he was. Let that memory live in you as it will in me. I miss him so much and always will. He is in God’s care now until I see him again.

I love you dad!

Up here in the great white north of Michigan we just had the 42nd Annual I-500 Snowmobile race. For those of you who not familiar with this event, it is a 500 mile race ran on a ice one mile oval track. It is shaped like a paper clip with banked corners and is run very much like a NASCAR race.

During the week leading up to the race there are time trials to determine the starting grid. Then on race day Saturday the green flag waves around 10 am. These are no ordinary snowmobiles. They are high performance machines built to reach speeds exceeding 115 mph down the straights.

This year Arctic Cat finally won after 42 years of trying!!

Here are a few pictures.

So much time has passed since I last updated this blog. For me, I must be in the mood to tell a story or to explain what has been going on. Lately the mood has not been with me. Or maybe it has just been a bad mood. I get depressed about life and what it hands me and I just don’t feel like telling the story. Today however is different. The story is not about me but rather about my parents. I am sitting in the waiting room of Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, MI. My mother is in getting two tests done to look for blockage. The first is Transesophageal Echo which is a procedure that uses ultrasound waves to examine the heart. The second is the Cardiac Catheterization which is a procedure during which doctors insert a long, thin, flexible tube, called a catheter into the body. The catheter is inserted into a blood vessel and directed toward the heart. This procedure allows doctors to asses how well the heart is pumping and to examine the coronary arteries and the heart valves. She may need a stint put in and if that becomes the case we may have to spend another night here.

My father has been in and out of testing for his emphysima and lung cancer. He smoked for many years and finally quit back in 97. Unfortunately it was about 20 years too late. He has advanced emphysima and according to him, it will kill him before the cancer does. He has another catscan beind done in a week. This is to see how much the cancer has advanced since the last scan 3 months ago. Both of them are 72.

As some of you may know, I am divorced. I moved up here to the U.P. of Michigan last November and at that time there was no indication of cancer in my father. It is strange where life leads us. Is it divine intervention? Why would the changes in my life lead me here at this time when I am needed by both of my parents? Did God step in and guide me this way. I want to think so but I am glad that I am here for them. My father has told me some stories of his life. Stories that I never knew. He has also been telling me about things I need to know to take care of their home and land.. and my mother. It is often uncomfortable to do but it is necessary. I have promised him that if needed I will take care of my mother. He is not to worry. Now there is worry about my mother’s health and yes, I will be here to take care of my father if that is needed.

I miss my boys so much. David is now 18 and working hard. He graduated from high school last May. Eric, who is 13, just started back to school today after returning back from San Diego where he spent some time with his grandmother. From what he says,  he had a good time there. She is a good grandmother.

Yesterday was Thoren’s birthday. He is now 27 years old. Can you believe that? I feel so old thinking of that. Jeremy married a sweet girl named Lauren. They are both in the hospital as I type this to give birth to my first grand-daughter Saphire Rain Freeman. I am not sure of the spelling. I am on pins and needles waiting to hear the news from my ex-wife Marie. I pray they are doing ok.

Both of my sisters are here in the hospital along with my aunt Louise and my father. The nurse just came and called saying my mother just finished the first procedure. My sisters went back for now to check on mom.

I will update more soon.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY WELL PUT AND I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT’S BY A YOUNG PERSON, A STUDENT!!!  WHATEVER HE RUNS FOR, I’LL VOTE FOR HIM.
OUTSTANDING.

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce.  I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course.  Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let’s just end it on friendly terms.  We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups ca n equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion.  That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement.  After that, it should be relatively easy!  Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them.  You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.  Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.  You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O’Donnell  (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We’ll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street.  You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens.  We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s and rednecks.  We’ll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood … 

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.  You can have the peaceniks and war protesters.  When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values..  You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain.  You can also have the U.N.. but we will no longer be paying the bill. 

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors.  We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.  We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem.  I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World. 

We’ll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot.  Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name and our flag. 

Would you agree to this?  If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete.  In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in 15 years. 

Sincerely, 

John J. Wall

Law Student and an American 

P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with you.

I just uploaded a new video to youtube. It is called Sled-Play 3. It is just two friends and myself playing around last Sunday afternoon in a snow covered sand pit. Click on the picture of the my buddy Mike getting some air below and it will take you right to the video. Oh and watch at the end for Mike to end the day with a nice flip over the handlebars of his Mountain Cat. Broke a few parts he did but he is ok.

Laterz

Rayk

aka Jeff

Being back up in northern Michigan has had it’s share of challenges. Finding a good paying job for one, but there have been many good things about returning to the Great White North. Being close to my parents has been a good thing. And, as most of my close friends know, I love to ride snowmobiles. When I lived in Ohio a group of friends and I would make out annual trip north to ride for a week in February. Now that I live here I can ride anytime I want as long as there is someone to ride with. Riding alone is fun but not as much fun as going out with a small group. Plus if you ride alone you better stick to the main trails. If something goes wrong, you may end up walking a good many miles for assistance. When we go out in groups we often end up stopping by a local drinking establishment to warm up but that is part of the fun. Don’t get drunk though. It can be just as bad being caught for a DUI on a snowmobile as it is for a car.

The other day Mykl, Roy and I decided to go out and play a bit in a sand pit. Too bad that others had found fun there before we did and the fresh powder was rather beaten down but we did find a few places to play. I took along my camcorder and took about 30 minutes of tape. I came home and put together a 5 minute video of the highlights. It can be viewed by clicking the picture or by going Youtube.com and do a search for Raakkos. That will yeild my videos submitted. Just click on Snow-Play2.

We plan to go out again to another pit tomorrow and I will get more video. Hopefully some better air shots.

A few years have passed since I last road my Polaris XLT in the nice powder. It has been snowing steady since I arrive and it is wonderful. We have something around 2.5 feet of snow on the ground and mostly powder.. have to be careful when getting off the trail. Dont’ want to get stuck out there more then I have already.

It is hard to believe that when I mention to folks that with Obama we could be heading toward socialism I get those who actually welcome it. I have to think that they do not understand what it means. How it will impact them or change their daily life. Now, I have to admit that I am not fully educated on the matter but I do know that socialism for one, it takes away an individual’s right to choose in so many ways. The individual becomes non-existent as everyone becomes part of the collective. Think of it as a bee hive. There is the queen and the workers. We, the worker bees, will have our lives cut out and guided for us. Just like the individual worker bee has no right to do what he wants, neither will we. Where we work is controlled as well as the types of goods we can buy. Most products will have a set price so why would anyone want to make a better product. They can’t charge more for it so quality goes away. Business will be so controlled by government that it will become impossible to make a decent profit. Regulations on what you can make and  how will strangle most right out.

Another thing we can toss away is what we “thought” we gained on Drill Here Drill Now. That idea is over. As soon as President Elect Obama takes office Reed and Pelosy will have the expired drilling bans placed back on Anwar (ANWR) Alaska and Off Shore. And because gasoline prices have gone back down, most of the American’s that voted for Obama will not care a whit. They will think that as long as the Democrats control ALL of government, the prices will stay down. How nieve is that thought? Then, once the prices skyrocket back up, this time breaking the $5.00 a gallon average price barrier, they will start to cry again. The argument will then again be.. it will take 10 years to get things going so why bother. If we could just keep going on the drilling now we would be able to prevent the price of oil from going back up over $140 per barrel.

It truly is so hard to believe how quickly people forget and become complacent. While some of us actually see what is very likely to happen. I honestly do not want to say “I told you so”.

Well, it is official, Obama has won the Presidency of the United States. It is time to get ready for the revolution to Socialism and crown the new President. Just be wary, those if us who voted for McCain. Obama’s new CSF troops will be marking those that oppose him. Oh in case you haven’t been paying attention to what he is recorded to have said.. CSF is his new Civilian Security Force. Let’s see, who was the last Dict.. I mean leader that had one of those? Hmm, oh yes. it was HITLER!

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted anything here. There has been so much going on and I just haven’t taken the time to write. So much has happened. I am not OTR anymore. (Over the Road) driving got to be too hard so I took a local job here in the Vancouver area. Yes, still driving but home every evening and weekends. Here is a picture of my new ride. Well, it isn’t new but it does the job.

More to come.. I promise to post more of what is going on tomorrow night.